05/24/2026
Y'all, I swear if we didn't have bad luck with this last batch of calves, we would have none at all. Eric went down to feed this morning and noticed a cow with a "black dot" laying pretty far out in the field. He made a mental note to check on said "dot" after feeding, and the cow started to head toward the feed wagon. Thank God he was paying attention to it because for the first time ever the next time he looked up, the "black dot" was being attacked by a coyote. He jumped off the wagon and sprinted across the field, wielding a pitch fork chasing after it. The coyote finally gave up its attack, but not before tearing off the tip of a brand new calves tail. I mean, seriously, WTF! Eric grabbed him and carried him across the field back to where the cows were eating to keep him safe while he came back to the house for a rifle. I know we are in a drought, and food has been scarce, but we have been here lots of times before and never dealt with this. All I can say is that rifles will be locked and loaded on every vehicle from now on, and we will no longer tolerate any coyote near our cattle. He saw an opportunity, and he took it, now its our turn.
Ari snagged him out of the field while Eric went to look for the perpetrator. We tried to get mom's attention to bring her in, but she was too busy eating. Calf needed medical attention, so up to the house he came. Shaved his tail, cleaned it with some saline and betadine, wrapped it up to stop any bleeding, and gave him some pain meds and a large dose of antibiotics. Sadly, because we need to monitor him and we are unable to get mom up here easily, he will be bottle calf #4 for the year.🤦♀️ I have always said that I would rather have a live bottle calf than a dead calf in a field any day. Apparently, this year, the Lord thought we should test my theory. Well, so far, we are 4 for 4, and as much as I was excited to not have any more to take care of, I am immensely thankful he was saved!
